Want to drive views for B2B video? Here’s what makes people watch

We surveyed over 3,200 LinkedIn members to discover what persuades them to watch video in their feed

May 17, 2018

The pivot to video is here. Marketers are creating more of it; audiences are engaging with more of it. And as an inevitable result, there are more opinions than ever before about what drives success for video content. Some of these opinions are based on data, some of them are based on anecdotal evidence, and some of them aren’t based on any of these things. Boom times for video marketing mean boom times for video marketing myths as well.

If you’re a B2B marketer, the discussion around what makes effective video content can be particularly frustrating – because so much of it is based on what works for consumer brands. If your marketing objectives aren’t really served by millions of Gen Z’s viewing 15-second funnies then you often find yourself struggling to unearth any relevant insight at all.

That’s why LinkedIn has been surveying our members on what persuades them to watch video in their feed. We talked to over 3,200 professionals across 16 regions and markets, and we’ve captured the results in our Infographic, The Science of Breakthrough B2B Video. Scroll down and you’ll find five techniques that our research shows drive higher engagement for B2B video content.

The video marketing myths you should ignoreIt’s clear from our survey that professional audiences don’t insist on video being shorter than 30, 15 or six seconds. The sweet spot for B2B video content is actually between 30 seconds and two minutes. There’s space to communicate real value through video if you can deliver it in the right way.

Humour is hugely powerful as a driver of engagement (that’s one piece of received wisdom on video content that’s definitely true). However, being funny isn’t the strongest influence on whether people watch. A very big majority (86%) say that they are more likely to watch video that’s relevant to their job, and 75% say they are more likely to watch video that references their specific industry. When it comes to B2B video strategies, the ability to target effectively beats just about everything else.

When it comes to signalling relevance, it's not just the video itself that matters. Our research shows how people base their decisions on accompanying headlines and summary copy above all else. This far outweighs the influence of the number of likes and shares that a video has already generated.

Scroll down to explore The Science of Breakthrough Video in full – and don’t leave your strategy to video marketing myths:

Ready to get started applying data-led video strategies on LinkedIn? You’ll find more information at linkedin.com/videoads